“River Keep Runnin” is the new single from London-based Soul singer, Acantha Lang. As London’s best kept soul secret, blending Stax-inspired funk with Southern blues, Lang’s 2021 EP debut, ‘Sugar Woman’, earned praise from legends like Joe Bonamassa, Robert Elms, and Craig Charles. Inspired by her roots in Blues music and using a slamming soul groove, she unleashes a message of defiance about staying strong through adversity.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the song, Acantha shares: “The song was inspired by the hurricanes and the flooding of the Mississippi River that has brought so much devastation to my hometown, New Orleans (my momma lost everything on three separate occasions due to hurricanes!). It’s also a metaphor about going through dark times, feeling on edge, but somehow in the end, you find the strength to stand up, fight, and keep on!
“Also, rivers are very prominent in African American folklore,” she notes. “They are used for positive imagery like baptisms and saving one’s soul, and also has very dark connotations like the use of the Mississippi River during the slave trade in the deep south of America.”
